This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Peg hooks or display hooks are commonly used in retail stores for displaying merchandise. Several identical items can be hung on a single hook to display such items for sale. This display method has several advantages, including allowing continuous viewing of the item. When the front item is removed from the hook, the next item becomes visible. Such hook displays are advantageous because they can be adapted to various display configurations as the hooks can be moved around by the merchant on a supporting peg board wall as desired. One disadvantage of such hooks however is that they allow thieves to easily take as many items from the hooks as they wish in a very short period of time. The taking of many or all of the in-stock items of a particular product by thieves (commonly referred to as “sweeping”) is a major problem in the retail industry.
It is known to provide a support rod of a merchandise display hook which supports high risk merchandise with a series of S bends adjacent the free end of the support to prevent a shoplifter from easily “sweeping” all of the items off the display hook. Further, it is known to provide the display hook with a locking device configured to be positioned on the support rod between the free end of the rod and the forwardmost item of merchandise. One disadvantage of an anti-sweep locking device is that it requires a special key and assistance from sales personnel in order to allow a purchaser to take an item supported on the hook. A disadvantage of the use of S bends adjacent the free end of the display hook is that it makes it difficult for potential customers to remove items from the display hook and may dissuade potential customers from removing products held on such hooks.
It is also known to provide a mechanical time delay mechanism adjacent the free end of the support rod in order to increase the time required to dispense each item of merchandise from the display hook. However, there exists a need for a merchandise display structure having a mechanical time delay mechanism such as a knob or the like that is not exceedingly complex, costly or subject to malfunction. In other words, there exists a need for a better time delay mechanism which readily allows the dispensing of one item from a hook or like display structure, but retards the ability of the person removing the first item from removing additional items from the hook until a certain period of time has passed. There also exists a need to allow a rapid restocking of the items on the hook by a merchant without disabling the time delay mechanism.